May 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



119 



temperate regions, especially Europe ! With all this 

 wealth in variety, however, almost the only commercially 

 important kinds of Australian timber are the gum trees, 

 and only about a score of these out of the hundred and 

 thirty-five species, or thereabouts, spread over the country. 

 There is so much to be said concerning these wonderful 

 trees that one hardly knows where to begin and where to 

 leave off; but I think the historical part deserves our 

 attention. I have mentioned the allusions to them in 

 Dampier's and t'ook's narratives ; yet it was no one con- 

 nected with either of these expeditions that named and 

 described this genus in botanical language. This was left 

 for a foreigner to do. It was C. L. L'Heritier de Brutelle 

 who founded the genus Eufnli/ptiis, in his Sertum AiKjUcwn, 

 sen Plantie Rariores quce in hortis ju.vta Lomlinuin, imprimis 

 in Horto Keuvnsi e.vcoluntur (1788) ; so we have at least the 

 satisfaction that it was founded on a plant cultivated at 

 Kew, and, according to the author, introduced into this 

 country by William Anderson, surgeon, and David Nelson, 

 gardener, who took part in Cook's third voyage around the 

 world. 



Incidentally I may mention that Nelson previously 

 worked in Kew Gardens, and subsequently accompanied 

 Captain Bligh on his voyage to the South Seas to intro- 

 duce the breadfruit tree into the West Indies ; and he was 

 one of those turned adrift in a small boat with Captain 

 Bligh by the mutineers of the Bauntij. He survived the 

 perilous and exhausting journey across the Pacific to 

 Timor, the first land they touched, where, however, he 

 succumbed to the privations he had undergone. 



A coloured figure of a second species was published in 

 White's " Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales," 

 1790. 



The genus Eucalyptus belongs to the same family of 

 plants as the common myrtle, 

 though this fact is not obvious 

 to persons unversed in botanical 

 classification. The name is 

 of Greek derivation, given in 

 allusion to a peculiarity in the 

 floral structure, which I will 

 attempt to describe and define 

 by means of the accompanying 

 figures. ' There are two 

 principal modifications in the 

 structure of flowers generally 

 — the one in which the sepals 

 forming the calyx, or outer 

 covering, are combined, and 

 the petals forming the corolla, 

 or inner covering, are also 

 combined, as in the primrose ; 

 the other in which the sepals 

 and petals are free from each 

 other and fall away separately, 

 as in the buttercup. As 

 already mentioned, the genus 

 Eucah/jitus bslongs to the 

 myrtle family, in which the 

 petals are almost invariably free 

 from each other and fall away 

 separately ; but in Eucalyptus 

 itself there is an exceptional 

 condition of the parts of the flower. Briefly, the sepals 

 and petals are usually fused or consolidated into one 



• For the skctclies illustrating these artieles I am inilel.tcd to 

 Miss Kthel Walker, of Hie Bedford Park School of Art. The figures 

 in the present [Juper were copied from the late Sir F. von Mueller's 

 Eucaliiptotiraphia : hut all the rest are original. 



A flower of IEiica\iiplus 

 Glohitht^ — the two lids raised 

 showing the int'urved sta- 

 mens. Slightlv enlarged. 

 Copied from Mueller. 



body, which is thrown off in the form of a lid or extin- 

 guisher by the expanding stamens, and is commonly called 

 the operculum. In some species, as in E. Glohulw!, the 

 blue gum, there are two lids — an outer very thin mem- 

 branous one, which is thrown off early, and an inner, 

 thicker one, which in E. (ihbuhis itself is not unlike a 

 crown. The shape of the lid or operculum varies greatly 

 in different species. The extremes are presented by 

 /■'. (iliiJiulus and /•;. I.ehmanni. In the latter it is cylin- 

 drical and an inch and a half long, and it is sometimes 

 used as a cigarette-holder. After the lid is thrown oft", the 

 stamens, which are exceedingly numerous, spread out, as 

 shown in the accompanying figures. 



.4 (lower of Eucali/plnx GMjiihix after the lids hare lieen tlirown off. 

 Slightly enlarged. Aflei- Afueller. 



The flowers of the gum trees, as well as the fruits or 

 seed vessels, vary greatly in size and colour. Thus in 

 E. rrehra the whole flower, with outspread stamens, is 

 hardly a quarter of an inch across, whilst in E. mucrocurpa 

 it is as much as three and a half inches across. In this 

 species the filaments (threads) of the stamens are crimson 

 and the anthers are yellow, associated with foliage of a 

 blue green similar to the garden pea, but more intense, 

 and in form something like the common laurel, but far 

 thicker and denser. Excellent paintings of this and other 

 species of l^ucdh/jitu.s may be seen in the North Gallery at 

 Kew. 



4'? " ^o't^i'SAvS. k. 



A (lower of Eiicalitpftin macrocnrpa. Natural size. After Mueller 



Before entering into farther particulars respecting the 

 morphology and uses of the gum trees, I will give an 

 account of the geographical distribution of this peculiar 

 genus. Altogether about one hundred and thirty-seven 

 species are known, and of these one hundred and thirty- 

 four are confined to Australia, ranging from east to 



